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Amazon.co.jp (hereafter, Amazon) has started sales by invitation of PlayStation 4 (hereafter, PS4). You can place an order only after requesting an invitation and receiving the invitation email.
Previously, the current product “PlayStation 4 Jet Black 500GB (CUH-2200AB01)” was normally sold on Amazon. However, at the moment, it’s an invite sale and you can’t buy it unless you request an invite and win. Also, on Amazon, the PS4 model number whose production is discontinued by the manufacturer is sold on the marketplace. These sellers are sellers, not Amazon.
PlayStation 5 (PS5), a next-generation machine, has long been sold by lottery at many retailers, not just Amazon. Under such circumstances, PS4, which is the previous generation machine, has also been targeted for lottery sales this time. Yodobashi.com, Yamada Webcom, Joshin web shop, etc. they are sold out without lottery sales. As far as we can confirm, there are no new sales of “PlayStation 4 Jet Black 500GB (CUH-2200AB01)” on other major sales sites.
In other words, it seems that not only the PS5 but also the PS4 are in short supply. This bidding situation is probably why PS4 moved from regular sales to invite-only sales on Amazon this time around. As for the PS4, it has been reported in the past that Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) planned to end production in late 2021, but pulled it (Bloomberg). On the other hand, SIE’s spokesperson denied the existence of such a plan and said that they continued to produce and sell PS4 in parallel with PS5 (Netorabus）。
In September of this year, PS5 will start shipping the “CFI-1200” series, which is a model with minor changes. The processor has been redesigned and a new SOC called Oberon Plus made by AMD is adopted. The revamp of the SOC, which is the heart of the car, is a small change, but it’s a big one, and can be seen as a stepping stone to further production increases (Related article）。
Also, at the “PlayStation Partner Awards 2022 Japan Asia” held the other day, SIE director Kiichiro Urata commented on the shipment of PS5. A system is in place in Japan to significantly increase the number of PS5 restocks during the end of the year and New Years holidays. Hideaki Nishino, SIE Platform Experience SVP (Senior Vice President), also said:Famitsu interviewOn the contrary, it suggests an increase in PS5 production. This should improve significantly in 2023. It will be interesting to see how PS4 and PS5 distribution changes going forward.
